1 Cast your bread on the waters; for you will find it after many days.

2 Give a portion to seven, yes, even to eight; for you don't know what evil will be on the earth.

3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will be.

4 He who observes the wind will not sow; and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

5 As you don't know what the way of the wind is, [nor] how the bones [grow] in the womb of her who is pregnant; even so you don't know the work of God who does all.

6 In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening don't withhold your hand; for you don't know which will prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both will be alike good.

7 Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.

8 Yes, if man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that comes is vanity.

9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know, that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

10 Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.